Sense-And-Avoid System To Transition To Global Hawk

An airborne sense-and-avoid (ABSAA) system enabling the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk to fly in civil airspace will transition to full-scale development at the end of September after completion of a final round of research test flights.

The multi-sensor system has been in development at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) since 2008 under the Multiple Intruder Autonomous Avoidance (MIAA) science and technology program.

Flights from Niagara Falls, N.Y., in August/September will mark the final phase of tests using a Calspan-operated Learjet equipped with the MIAA sensors and algorithms and acting as a surrogate for the unmanned Global Hawk.

The flights will evaluate collision-avoidance algorithms and a new electronically scanned sense-and-avoid radar, as well as a new technique to perform passive target ranging from the two-dimensional imagery provided by electro-optical sensors.

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